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Occupational Blogging

For this weeks project I have decided to discuss eight blogs from eight different professions. I will touch on my overall thoughts of effectiveness, content, things to take away, things I learned, things that stunk. I originally had ten blogs, but cut the content to ten. Ten just seemed like a lot of examples, eight seems better and easier on your brain. This idea came from Professor Morgan’s idea:

A consideration of blogging in support of other professions: dishwasher, bespoke tailer, poet, anti-poet, spy. Who uses them, how, and what does that mean for us in Weblogs and Wikis.

I am doing this a bit earlier than normal because I have loads of homework, I work two ten hour shifts on Saturday and sunday, and am leaving for Whitewater, WI (a nine hour drive) sunday after work for a grad school interview on Monday morning.

With that being said, let the fun begin. I researched and located a blog from these eight professions: dentist, astronaut, optometrist, veterinarian, psychologist, priest, chef, and accountant. I attempted to find an array of professionals to really drive the point home that anyone can blog. Some of these blogs are quite good, very extensive, and have been running for years. Others are not up to par, while some have their own domain names.

First up is a dentist. A man named Dr. Corey Gold runs the blog, and calls it “The Dentist’s Office.” Clever. He has made 87 posts, dating back to 2012. He covers five main areas of expertise: customer satisfaction, dental marketing, practice management, team building, and web and social media. This is not a “day in the life of” type of blog, it covers issues with staffing, finances, motivation, as well as running his own business. It is put together very nicely. I like the fact that he put his categories towards the top of the page so you can access them easily.

Next is an astronaut. It was run by astronaut Leroy Chiao. He hasn’t posted since December of 2011, but it is a good example of what his duties were. He has a lot of images of his shuttles, some with him inside, and a couple from his presentation at the Henry Ford Innovation Institute. I like the use of images on the right side of the page, gives you a good grasp of what he was dealing with before he retired. The blog was started in 2007 and ceased in 2011. The blog touches on flights, space, launches, UFOs, delays, etc.

Now on to the optometry blog. It has been in business since June of 2009. For obvious reasons, it focuses on eye care, allergies, contacts, insurance, and lasik. I like the calendar, as well as the “archives” on the page. It lists every month since the blogs inception, which showcases how long it has been in business. It makes it evident that a lot of work has been put into the blog. The actual content is less than amazing, however. Not nearly as thorough as you might hope.

This veterinarian blog has been running since 2008 and has made a whopping 749 times in its existence. This is nearly a post every other day. There are favorite links from other sources on the left side of the page, which is a nice touch. The site is run by a man named Chris Bern, DVM. He calls the blog “A Vet’s Guide To Life,” and has a tagline that reads “What is it like to be a vet? How does it affect our life and the lives of those around us? What are the best things for your pets? And what really goes on in a vet’s mind and private life?” That pretty much sums up what Chris is trying to accomplish with the blog. A cool thing I noticed about the site is that through Google Translate you can choose any language you like to view the blog in. Interesting.

This priest blog (priests can have blogs?) was very interesting. Father Joseph Jenkins calls himself the “Blogger Priest.” Or you can just call him “Father Joe” too. The site seems borderline inappropriate (probably the wrong word) as he uses actual questions, despite the fact that his wisdom is likely useful for the right eyes. He uses questions asked by people, posts the questions, and then answers them. Some posts are “conversations,” while others are commentary and educational. I like the use of imagery at the top of the page, as well as the tabs above the image. The site is well put-together, thanks in part to WordPress’ design.

This site is run by “Grumpy Old Accountants.” A very funny title. A very funny concept. Two very funny pictures of the gentleman running the site. Dr. Catanach and Dr. Ketz put a blog together (cute) and it is rather effective. They cover anything from audits, corporate finance, court decisions, financial reporting, standards, and taxes. The blog has been up and running since April of 2011. The font and setup gives the blog youth, and further asserts itself.

With this psychologist blog I am starting to notice a trend: the extensive use of Blogger. The site is run by a licensed psychologist from California. She is also a speaker, author, and “expert” blogger. I am not sure I like the outline of the site. It is a little confusing and is almost impossible to find previous posts. The background is quite messy and distracting. There are all sorts of different fonts, random images, and links that jumble everything together that showcase (in my opinion) what not to do when blogging. Do not confuse and distort your reader–simplify.

This chef blog is well developed, looks rather tasty, and features a cool name–The Novice Chef. The concept is simple: recipes. A woman named Jessica develops recipes, bakes the food, takes pictures, and reports back to us about her “experiments.” The site has a good feel, a lot of color, well done pictures, links, etc. It is a professional site, with its own domain name (thenovicechefblog.com). A lot can be learned from this self taught chef.

Well, that is all. I spent nearly two hours finding these examples as it turned out to be harder than previously thought to find random blogs. I learned a lot, and may do some research from our WordPress textbook to incorporate some of the ideas. This small project should prove that anyone with any profession can run a blog and have it flourish. Are some of these blogs necessary? Perhaps not, but a couple of these examples are worthwhile for many people.

This is such a great way to look at blogging. And this also ties into Jill Walker’s ideas of academics blogging, even though some of those choose to be under pseudonymous names. It’s also interesting the various ways the various professions use their blogs. It was also interesting that you brought up the differences between word press and blogger. That just makes me want to go look up blogger now and see the differences!